The Long Game
by AliveO
Summary: Nirenka Paluth finds herself stranded on an enemy ship at unknown coordinates. Kidnapped, she faces the infamous mental conditioning of the Tal Shiar and a potential future serving the very forces she tried so hard to destroy. [OC] [Colonel Hakeev] [Sela] [Tovan Khev]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N – This story is based upon the events of the Romulan story missions 'Revelation' and 'Mind Game'. From there, however, things take a different turn. (This will feature my own Romulan character). [M-rating for frequent strong language and graphic scenes]**

"I'm sorry, but this gate is just too dangerous to be left here. I'll be right behind you all, now get back to the ship while I set the self-destruct." Nirenka turned to face the Iconian panel. "GO." She forcefully ordered her away team, sensing their hesitation.

"Self-Destruct sequence activated. Core failure in approximately ten seconds." The computer barked out in its generic tone.

"Time to get out of here." Nirenka began to tap on her wrist-mounted panel, however, nothing happened. "Shitshitshit." She panicked out loud. Frantically looking around for options, she made her mind up quickly and darted through the gateway, not considering its set destination.

* * *

Thrown out the other side, Nirenka just about dodged a nasty collision with a storage crate and stopped herself just before meeting a bulkhead. Taking in her new locale, Nirenka noticed the sparse neon green lighting and clammy atmosphere. The technology fused onto the walls looked familiar – she had seen it before.

"This ship – it looks Romulan, but– modified." Nirenka thought to herself. "Hmm, that looks like a doorway." She made her way to the right and an unlocked door, which slid open to reveal none other than the bridge of Colonel Hakeev, and the man himself.

"It seems we have an uninvited guest." The bald Romulan mused cockily to his senior staff, having recognised the sole survivor of the Virinat colony. "Contact Empress Sela, she will want to know about the whereabouts of her little pet. And guards - get her off my bridge." The man spewed vitriolically, the hatred in his voice eminent. "Of all the fucking places." Nirenka sighed.

* * *

"So, it would seem you have managed to weed your way through my organisation without my knowledge. Not many people can do that. I am somewhat impressed. Somewhat." Hakeev sneered his way through the sentence. "You will save yourself a _lot_ of pain if you reveal D'Tan's plan of action against us, little spy."

"Ok, our plan is to defeat you and your bastardized 'agency' so you can't destroy any more of our people!" Nirenka snapped.

"Gagh! You worm!" The Colonel spat across the table. "You are in for a very rough ride!"

"Calm down both of you." A Soothing and familiar voice spoke from the shadows." Stepping out from them, was the Empress herself. "I would be much more cooperative if I were you, Hakeev here can get very… Creative when it comes to extracting information from prisoners." She smirked.

"Oh yeah? Well, tell your glorified henchman over here he's gonna have to work overtime, because this nut isn't gonna crack easily!" Nirenka scowled but felt her resolve dampen when she noticed the sadistic grin growing on the Tal Shiar spymaster's face. Then, she felt a rough grab of her shoulder, and sharp pressure on her neck before the world faded in front of her.

* * *

As the green glow started to fade slowly back into view, Nirenka thought she heard voices calling through the dark.

"Subcommander? Subcommander! Damnit Satra, where is she?"

"Give me some time Tovan! She must've gone through that gateway. Damnit Nirenka! Just come back when you say you're going to for once!"

Suddenly the real world came back to her, and she was blinded by a bright light shining directly onto her face and tried to direct her eyesight away. She was, however, completely unable to move.

Not feeling any restraints, her breathing began to increase as panic set in.

"Calm yourself, patient. You have been injected with a paralytic compound. The effects are temporary. After all, if you couldn't walk, you wouldn't be much use to us, now, would you?" An inappropriately jolly voice shot from somewhere close by.

"Who's there? Where am I?!" Nirenka shouted out.

"My my, we are in a rather compromised state, aren't we? Hmm, what was it I heard Hakeev call you? Ah ha! Little spy. That's it." The horrendously patronising tone came through crystal clear. However, reluctant to give her real name, Nirenka tried to ignore the comment. "Don't worry my dear, the extraction has already happened. However, Hakeev still wants you for some reason. I doubt I'll ever understand that man." Nirenka heard footsteps getting gradually quieter and the swish of a door opening. She relaxed. Unknown to her, however, a figure had slipped into the room unheard.

"Hello there, my friend. I take it you're my subject for today?" Nirenka gasped as the piercing voice shot down her ear from close range. "I assume given your reaction my approach was unexpected? A shame. I am disappointed my understudy lied to you, although he likes to play little games sometimes." Nirenka's panic set in again as a new wave of fear overwhelmed her motionless body. "I will tell him how amusing your reaction to his trick was, though." The voice sighed. "Let's get to it then, eh? I suggest cooperation, not that it'll make the ride any easier, it's just less likely to scramble your brain up, ha!"

Nirenka felt the fear completely vanish, and almost as though she was being hugged by her mother again back on Virinat, a huge sensation of comfort drifted through her mind. This solace once again disappeared quickly, though, as her thoughts were interrupted by searing pain on what felt like her lower abdomen, but she somehow knew wasn't. This knowledge did not override the sensation, however, and a mild moan of discomfort turned into a full scream as the feeling was amped up to eleven.

"Impressive resilience!" She heard her torturer exclaim. "Not many patients get that far without screaming!".

The pain subsided and was replaced with massive amounts of pleasure felt all over her. Nirenka already felt quite weak from the two rapid changes, but the satisfaction she was now feeling almost numbed her brain and all feeling completely.

"I can see that you're enjoying this! What are you, some kind of masochist? This is supposed to be torture you know." The monotone cut through the pleasure like a disruptor through flesh. "Oh well, you've been sufficiently weakened for me to get at the juicy memories. I guess a bit of naturally induced trauma before the extraction helped. I'll recommend we use Lieutenant Tamok's technique on the others in my report." The voice tutted in disapproval as Nirenka began to drool slightly as a result of the feeling. "Now that just won't do. Time to break you out of that trance." A button was tapped and Nirenka loudly shouted "No!" before being thrown back into unbearable pain once more.

"Great! It's almost like you want to give us the information! I see you took my advice to heart. It's always a shame when the patient is damaged afterward." The voice went silent for a while, Nirenka wasn't quite sure how long, just that it was a period longer than her own voice could stay with her for. The silent screaming only made Nirenka feel more afraid and alone. She was sure in her subconscious it was a play by the interrogator to get her to free up more information, but unfortunately for Nirenka not many subconscious thoughts get through complete instinct.

After what she decided deep down was a few hours, the world began to fade again has the mental stress started to become too much.

"Oh dear, looks like you're leaving us, can't be having that, can we?" The voice split through her mind like an Axe, as the overwhelming pleasure came hurtling back to her, and the terror that had completely controlled her just seconds previously was forgotten. "Much better. Unfortunately for the both of us I'm nearing the end of my work. You've been very helpful to our cause, you know, Nirenka? Isn't it? I got that from your memories. We'll have a lot of fun hunting down your friends in the Republic." All while the voice explained how her other life was going to be picked apart piece by piece – and sparing not details. Nirenka's mind could only comprehend the words being spoken and the intense pleasure, even her closest friend's death being laid out in graphic detail didn't end the bombardment of joy she was feeling.

The voice's job was complete.


	2. Chapter 2

Rising from the stiff metal bed, Subcommander Nirenka Paluth exited the shielded compartment and walked – with a slight limp – towards the opposite end of the dimly lit corridor. To her right was a single desk, with an officer in security uniform sitting behind it.

"Ahh, Paluth! I have your assignment for today. Please report to Commander Fel'tok at tactical right away, he's going to help you accumulate to your new training." The Officer barked, before ushering the somewhat dazed Nirenka further down the corridor. After a time, she found herself confronting the Commander.

"Subcommander. We have here your old friend Veril. She didn't make it out of the base. Unfortunately for us, she has not responded well to interrogation. Take this disruptor and shoot her please." Nirenka stared down at the weapon she had been handed for a few seconds, almost confused as to its purpose. Upon realisation, she pulled it up and squared the Reman in her sights.

" _Nirenka! Don't do this! It's not right!"_ A voice came out of nowhere and she began darting her eyes across the room.

" _Subcommander. A good soldier follows the orders they are given. Kill the woman."_ Suddenly, Nirenka felt a rush of excitement and immediately pulled the trigger. A disturbing smile paved its way across her pale face.

"Excellent, I sensed some hesitation there but that's nothing a bit more conditioning won't fix. Computer, deactivate program." The disruptor and dead Reman subsequently vanished, and Nirenka's grin was wiped.

"You mean… That wasn't…" Nirenka began to tear up, one half of her horrified she executed her friend and the other half disappointed she didn't.

"Yes, Subcommander, it's a shame we couldn't get the _actual_ Veril here for you to kill. We'd be eliminating more than just you from the equation then." The Commander sounded unsatisfied but swiftly moved on. "Anyway, I'm taking you over to Lieutenant Gerren in the Engineering Lab now, we're going to be doing some exciting work with Thalaron weapons!" His mood lifted, as did, strangely she found, Nirenka's.

* * *

The triangular room that greeted the pair was littered with spare components but shared the same green glow as the rest of the ship.

"Commander, I see you've arrived with my new lab assistant. I sincerely hope she's not as incompetent as that Starfleet so-and-so we had in here last week. The procedure didn't work on her at all."

"Subcommander Paluth meet the Lieutenant. Lieutenant Gerren, meet Subcommander Paluth." The Commander stated before hushedly exiting the room with a "Good luck" muttered under his breath.

"Ok then, Paluth. Today we're making some handy WMDs. And I don't care what bloody protocol you throw at me because I'm going to ignore it anyway. Now get me some components!"

As Nirenka began ambling around the room, the voices from before came back to her.

" _Nirenka, stop what you're doing. You're going to kill people with this weapon!"_

" _Nonsense, don't listen to him. You're going to save lives! The Romulan people will owe a lot to you after this!"_

" _No! She's winning you over Nirenka! Think back to Virinat, where you were born! Remember?"_

" _Forget the past. It's never done you any favours. Virinat only brought you loss. We, we can help you correct that loss."_

Without knowing it, Nirenka had gathered all the correct parts to build the Thalaron mine.

"Good work, I see you're not wholly incompetent. Now test the weapons in that shielded compartment over there."

Nirenka dazedly walked to the containment unit, where several plants and animals were being held. Tapping away at the console enthusiastically, she beamed in the mine and set it off, almost hypnotised by the helix pattern the energy made before dispersing and disintegrating the biological matter inside.

" _Nicely done, do you often build world destroying bombs? You've got a real talent for it."_

The female voice returned sarcastically, as Nirenka handed Gerren the datapad with her results on it and proceeded back through the dimly lit corridors of the ship to her quarters for some rest.


End file.
